Monday, March 27, 2017

Healthcare Data Breaches Up 40% Since 2015

Broken down by industry, hacking was the most common data breach source for the healthcare sector, according to data provided to HealthLeaders Media by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Physical theft was the biggest breach category for healthcare in 2015 and 2014.

Insider theft and employee error/negligence tied for the second most common data breach sources in 2016 in the health industry. In addition, insider theft was a bigger problem in the healthcare sector than in other industries, and has been for the past five years.

Insider theft is alleged to have been at play in the Jackson Health System incident. Former employee Evelina Sophia Reid was charged in a fourteen-count indictment with conspiracy to commit access device fraud, possessing fifteen or more unauthorized access devices, aggravated identity theft, and computer fraud, the Department of Justice said. Prosecutors say that her co-conspirators used the stolen information to file fraudulent tax returns in the patients' names.